How to create a repeating object in Illustrator

This method is going to save me a tonne of time and stop me from having to copy/paste an object just to replicate a look.

My problem was that I needed to create a listings type wireframe in Illustrator. I would create a single listing, and then to create the desired effect I would simply copy and paste this object a number of times. The inevitable problem comes however when I need to add/remove/change something about the repeated object – I have to delete them all and then re-copy/re-paste to once again create the desired listings look.

So what you do is:

• Select the object/group you want to replicate
• [effect] > [distort & transform] > [transform]
• Set number of copies
• Set horizontal or vertical amount

It takes a second to get the hang of, but once you start using this you can really find some amazing uses for it!

Here’s a quick screenshot to show exactly what it does. In this case it is duplicating the first listings, with 5 copies, 124px apart (vertical).